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Braniewo
Collegium Hosianum - defensive walls
Coat of arms
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Warmian-Masurian
County	Braniewo County
Gmina	Braniewo (urban gmina)
Established	13th century
Town rights	1284
Government
• Mayor	Henryk Mroziński
Area
• Total	12.36 km (4.77 sq mi)
Population
• Total	17,875
• Density	1,400/km (3,700/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	14-500
Area code	+48 55
Car plates	NBR
Website	http://www.braniewo.pl/

Braniewo (former German name: Braunsberg) is a town in northeastern Poland, in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, with a population of 18,068 (2004). It is the capital of Braniewo County.

Location

Braniewo lies on the Pasłęka River about 5 km from the Vistula Lagoon, about 35 km northeast of Elbląg and 55 km (34 mi) southwest of Kaliningrad . The Polish border with Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast lies 6 km north, and may be reached from Braniewo via National Highway (Droga Krajowa) 54.

History

According to the Gernan geographer Johann Friedrich Goldbeck (1748-1812), the town originally was named Brunsberg after Bruno von Schauenburg (1205–1281), bishop of Olmütz (Olomouc) in Moravia, who accompanied King Ottokar II of Bohemia in 1254 and 1267 when the latter participated in the crusade of the Teutonic Knights against the Old Prussians. It has also been suggested that the name Braunsberg might stem from Brusebergue ("camp of the Prussians"), but this notion is not documented.

In 1243 the settlement and the surrounding region of Warmia was given by the Teutonic Order to the newly created Diocese of Ermland (Bishopric of Warmia), whose bishop built his cathedral in the town and made it his chief residence. The city was granted town privileges based on those of Lübeck in 1254, but in 1261 was destroyed and depopulated during the second of the Prussian Uprisings. It was rebuilt in a new location in 1273 and settled by newcomers from Lübeck. In 1284 it was given a new town charter, again based on that of Lübeck. However, the next bishop, Heinrich Fleming (1278–1300), transferred the chapter from Braunsberg to Frombork.

In 1296 a Franciscan abbey was built, and in 1342 a "new town" was added. As the most important trading and harbor city in Warmia, the town prospered as member of the Hanseatic League, which it remained until 1608. It remained a part of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights until 1466, when as a consequence of the Second Peace of Thorn ending the Thirteen Years' War, it came under jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Poland as part of the new autonomous province of Royal Prussia.

After the secularization of the Teutonic Order in 1525, a large part of it's residents converted to Lutheran Protestantism. Duke Albert, who had been grand master of the Order, sought to unite Warmia with Ducal Prussia, causing the Catholics of the town to swear allegiance to the king of Poland in return for aid against Protestant Prussia. In 1526 a Polish royal commission released Braniewo's burghers from the oath to the Polish king and handed the town back to Prince-Bishop Mauritius Ferber. Braniewo swore allegiance to the Prince-Bishops of Warmia, but had to denounce all Lutheran teachings and hand over Lutheran writings. Thereafter Warmia, though inhabited mainly by ethnic Germans, remained predominantly Roman Catholic (even after it became part of Brandenburg-Prussia in 1772).

Braniewo was occupied by Sweden for several years during the Livonian War in the 16th century. In Warmia, Lutheran teachings again were suppressed when Prince-Bishop Stanislaus Hosius (1504-1579) brought in the Jesuits and founded the Collegium Hosianum school. A priestly seminary was added in 1564. Pope Gregory XIII later added a papal mission seminary for northern and eastern European countries. Regina Protmann (1552-1613), a native of Braniewo, founded the Saint Catherine Order of Sisters in the town, recognized by the church in 1583. The Jesuit theologian Antonius Possevinus was instrumental in enlarging the Collegium Hosianum in the 1580s to counter the growing Protestant movement.

The ethnically German, politically Polish, and mainly Catholic town was annexed by the mostly Protestant Kingdom of Prussia in 1772 during the First Partition of Poland and made part of the province of East Prussia the following year. Braunsberg obtained its first railway connection with the rest of the kingdom via the Prussian Eastern Railway in 1852. In the early 20th century, the town was the leading academic center of East Prussia next to Königsberg. In 1912 the Jesuit college became the State Academy of Braunsberg (German: Staatliche Akademie Braunsberg). Prior to World War II, the population of Braunsberg had grown to more than 21,000, of whom 59 percent were listed as Catholic and 29 percent Protestant.

The Second World War turned much of the town into ruins. After three and a half years of savage warfare, Soviet forces began their assault on German territory by attacking East Prussia on Jan. 13, 1945. Red Army formations reached the Vistula Lagoon (German: Frisches Haff) north of Braunsberg on Jan. 26. In early February German civilians began fleeing from Braunsberg across the ice of the frozen lagoon to the Vistula Spit (German: Frische Nehrung; Polish: Mierzeja Wiślana), from which many journeyed to either Danzig (now Gdańsk) or Pillau (now Baltiysk) and managed to board German ships that made the perilous voyage westward. Braunsberg was captured by Soviet troops on March 20, 1945.

At the end of the war and thereafter, those German residents who had not fled or been killed were expelled to what remained of Germany. Under border changes promulgated at the Potsdam Conference, the region was transferred to Poland and the town became Braniewo, being gradually repopulated by Polish settlers, many from areas of eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union under terms of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Heavy fighting and wanton destruction afterwards had left the town about 80 percent destroyed, including much of its historic town center, including the Town Hall, which was consumed by fire.

In 2001 the St. Catherine Church, built in 1346, destroyed in 1945, and rebuilt after 1979, was declared a Basilica Minor (Bazylika Mniejsza). This Gothic Hall church was built on a site which had held a previous wooden Church of St. Catherine since 1280. Prince-Bishop Lucas Watzenrode of Warmia (1447-1512) had added extensively to the original building.

Number of inhabitants by year

Political timeline

• 1240 first mentioned as part of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Order
• 1254 Lübeck law rights granted
• 1466 Second Peace of Thorn (1466): became part of the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia and Royal Prussia in Poland
• 1772 First partition of Poland: became part of the Kingdom of Prussia
• 1871 German Empire founded: automatically part of it
• 1945 Occupation by Soviet Red Army, then became part of Poland

Notable residents

• Stanislaus Hosius (1504–1579), prince-bishop.
• Regina Protmann (1522–1613), charity pioneer.
• August Willich (1810–1878), German politician and general.
• Karl Weierstrass (1815–1897), German mathematician.
• Gustavus von Tempsky (1828–1868), German newspaper correspondent and soldier.
• Elimar Klebs (1852–1918), German historian.
• Konrad Zuse (1910-1995), German civil engineer, inventor and computer pioneer.
• Heinz Marquardt (1922-2003), German (Luftwaffe) fighter pilot (121 aerial victories).
• Rainer Barzel (1924–2006), German politician (Christian Democratic Union).
• Hartmut Bagger (born 1938), postwar German general (Bundeswehr).
• Bartosz Białkowski (born 1987), Polish footballer (soccer player) on several British teams.

International relations

Twin towns — sister cities

Braniewo is twinned with:

• Zelenogradsk, Russia
• Münster, Germany

References

1. Bruno von Schauenburg is also known as the founder of the village of Brušperk in Bohemia, the German name of which also is Braunsberg.

External links

• Municipal website Template:Pl icon
• City business page Template:Pl icon
• History of Braniewo (including modern and pre-1945 photographs) Template:Pl icon
• Local community website Template:Pl icon
• Map of Braniewo Template:Pl icon
• Street plan Template:Pl icon
• Braunsberg/Ostpreussen Kreisgemeinschaft Template:De icon
• Braunsberg im Wandel der Jahrhunderte Template:De icon

54°23′N 19°49′E / 54.383°N 19.817°E / 54.383; 19.817

v t e Gminas of Braniewo County
Seat	Braniewo (urban gmina)
Urban-rural gminas	Gmina Frombork Gmina Pieniężno
Rural gminas	Gmina Braniewo Gmina Lelkowo Gmina Płoskinia Gmina Wilczęta

• Cities and towns in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship
• Braniewo County
• Lübeck law